It's only six matches in, so it's still a small sample size, but it's a concerning one.
Nine goals have been scored on Austin FC so far, equaling 1.5 goals a game. By MLS standards in 2026, that's fairly middle-of-the-pack. Twelve teams have better goals allowed totals, including LAFC, who have yet to let in a single goal this year. Fourteen are worse, including Orlando, who have already let in 23, and are alarmingly on pace to let in 130, which would smash FC Cincinnati's record of 75 back in 2019 (which took the title from Orlando, who'd let in 74 the year before).
But it's how Austin's letting in those goals that's concerning.
Of the nine scored, five have come in the last hour of the match, and four have come in the last 15 minutes plus stoppage time — and those have significantly altered outcomes, taking a team that would otherwise have two points a game based on the most conservative readings of those results, and transform that record into one point per match, outside of the playoff places.
Let's take a (painful) look back and see how we got here.
